Statement of Condemnation on the Massacre of Women, Lawyers, Journalists and Civilians in Maguindanao

The Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM)

The Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM), a network/coalition of human rights and peace advocates coming from different grassroots tri-people organizations in Mindanao and the provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi,condemned in the strongest term possible the abduction and subsequent massacre of women, lawyers, and journalists in Maguindanao on November 23, 2009;

The mass murder is a barbaric and savage act that has no place in civilized societies.The perpetrators of this dastardly act have acted in complete disregard for human rights, sanity, law and order. This just shows the depth of the pits that our democracy has sank into where would-be political rivals are eliminated at will and with ease by the ruling political elite in the country.

The recent incident is just one of the manifestations of how our political system of elite democracy has bred the worst kind of barbaric ruling elites such as the warlords and kingpins that are covetously guarding over their respective political domains. They have become the little gods who dispenses orders and decides over the fate of people, curtail dissent and effectively neutralizing the competition;

What is more unfortunate and sad is that the National Government seemed powerless to take action against the perpetrators, completely inutile in the face of these savagery.

While the declaration in the Provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato and Maguindanao in a State of Emergency is supposed to stabilize the brewing situation in these areas, however, the declaration is also an effective way of covering up the traces of the massacres as investigation in the areas can become doubly difficult. This is because the local police and military have lost the credibility and moral authority in conducting the investigation with top police officials in the Maguindanao Province being implicated in the carnage;

We, therefore, call upon all sectors to be united and more vigilant in the face of the recent killings and barbarism that trample upon our human rights and decency;

We joined other groups and sectors that are expressing their grave concern and alarm over these detestable acts committed by the perpetrators of the mass murders;

We are calling for an impartial and transparent investigation that will look into the cases of mass murders. We are afraid that there are more people killed than reported, innocent civilians that happened to ply the same road at the same time as the victims during that fateful day of the massacre;

Further, we strongly demand for the National Government to give justice to all the victims of the mass carnage and show to all citizens and to the world that it can protect its citizens from these ruthless criminals regardless of their political affiliations. Now is more than ever the time for the State to assert itself as the protector of the human rights of the people and not be cowed by these blatant display of savagery of its political allies.

Finally, we express our sincere condolence and sympathies to the families of those who are killed especially our fallen Lumad Council of Peoples Representatives, Mr. Napoleon Salaysay from the Bagobo tribe, who died in the performance of his duty, being one of the journalists killed in the Maguindanao massacre.

25 November 2009

Cotabato City

Reference: Mabel Carumba

Secretary General, MPPM

Contact #: 09205065235

Amabella L. Carumba
Mindanao Peoples’ Peace Movement (MPPM)
Sarip Auliya St., Block 3, Bagua 2
9600, Cotabato City, Mindanao, Philippines
telefax: +63 64 421-1358
www.mppm.info

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 STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION On the brutal killing of fifty-seven (57) innocent civilians, women and Journalists in Maguindanao

November 27, 2009

The brutal killing of fifty-seven (57) people in Maguindanao that include innocent women and mediamen again put the Philippines into the international limelight. The incident actually mirrors the social & political situation not only of Maguindanao but the entire Philippines where many private armed groups controlled by warlords are operating with impunity.

It is not simply a violation of human rights or suppression of press freedom or just plain clan war between warring clans in Maguindanao but it shows the eroding moral values among many people who tend to become greedy for money and power.

It is a challenge as well to the sincerity of the Philippine Government to address the proliferation of goons, guns and warlordism that contributed significantly to the declining peace and order in Mindanao and will test how the government officials handle public officials like the Ampatuan who have contributed to help President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stay in Office with their 12-0 vote campaign (12 in favor of administration candidate) in Maguindanao.

We hope the victims to the brutal killing will not add to the long list of helpless victims including indigenous peoples in the past who up to now are still crying for justice. We hope it is not a prelude to a more violence in the coming election.

We condemn this atrocity as a violation of the sacredness of life, the suppression of press freedom and promoting a culture of violence in this part of the Philippines. It is very painful for us to learn that the crime is committed inside the ancestral domain of the peace loving indigenous peoples.

We sympathize with the grieving family members of the victims in finding justice for their love ones.

We are demanding for the speedy action of our concern government officials to let all the perpetrators answer for their crime whoever they are in order to prevent the possible escalation of the conflict and further bloodshed in Maguindanao.

We are calling everybody to act together and fight against injustices, press suppression and human rights violations and work to promote culture of peace in Mindanao.

In behalf of the Board and management,

Mr. Romeo C. Saliga
Executive Director
Lumad Development Center, Inc.
Tenorio, Awang, DOS, Maguindanao
Cell: 09195089759

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 STATEMENT: NUJP condemns abduction of journalists, lawyers and others in Maguindanao

NUJP, Monday, 23 November 2009

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns the abduction Monday of 40 persons including four of our colleagues who were accompanying the wife of a town mayor in Maguindanao province to cover her filing of her husband’s certificate of candidacy.

It is even more troubling that the Armed Forces of the Philippines has reported that the abductors were allegedly led by a mayor, Datu Unsay Ampatuan, and a police officer, a Senior Inspector Dicay, and that Mangadadatu Mayor Toto Mangadadatu went on air over a Cotabato City station to report that six members of the party led by his wife, Genalyn, had been beheaded.

Taking hostage someone about to file a certificate of candidacy is, by itself, a brazen challenge to efforts to strengthen our admittedly fragile democracy. And, if true that a local government official and a police officer are involved, then it says a lot about how far government has gone to eradicate the warlord politics that continues to reign over many of our provinces, very often the poorest and most underdeveloped.

But to take hostage journalists who were merely going about their job of informing the public worsens the already heinous crime and elevates it into an assault on the Constitution itself and the freedom of the press and of expression it enshrines, and the people’s right to know which these freedoms serve.

We demand that government, from Malacañang to the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Maguindanao, and its security forces, move swiftly to resolve this crisis and ensure that no harm befalls the hostages; and, if true that violence has been inflicted on some of the hostages, to ensure swift justice on the perpetrators, no matter who they are.

We demand that the abductors release the hostages, including the journalists, unconditionally.

Should any harm befall our colleagues, we will hold accountable the civil and security officials of Maguindanao, the ARMM and the national government for their failure to end the culture of violence and warlordism that lays waste not only to those who engage in politics but to innocent victims as well.

We call on all journalists to band together and demand no less.

Signed by all members of the National Directorate of the NUJP

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 STATEMENT: Maguindanao carnage strikes at the very foundations of democracy

by NUJP, Monday, 23 November 2009

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) demands justice for our colleagues and all the other victims of the November 23 carnage in Maguindanao province.

The Ampatuan massacre, which the military has confirmed was perpetrated by Shariff Aguak Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and police Sr. Inspector Dicay, goes beyond the issue of freedom of the press and of expression and strikes at the very foundations of democracy.

Aside from the wife, relatives and supporters of Ismail Mangudadatu, who were on their way to file his certificate of candidacy to run as governor of Maguindanao, the slaughter also claimed the lives of at least 12 colleagues, according to reports from our chapters in Mindanao.

This incident not only erases all doubts about the Philippines being the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, outside of Iraq, it could very well place the country on the map as a candidate for a failed democracy.

Running for office and voting are as much exercises of free will and expression as covering and reporting the news.

We expect nothing less from this government than the swift apprehension and punishment of everyone involved in this gruesome assault on the national body politic, including the masterminds, regardless of who they might be.

Anything less would mean that the impunity that has emboldened those who would silence the press, staining this administration with the worst record of murdered journalists, has spread to embolden those who would subvert our democracy for their own selfish interests.

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
www.nujp.org
105-A Scout Castor Street (near Morato Avenue)
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.: (+632) 4117768
Email: nujphil gmail.com

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 STATEMENT: Lawyers group condemn massacre of journalists and fellow lawyers

by Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao, Monday, 23 November 2009

The Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) condemns in the strongest possible terms the brutal murder of scores of civilians in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanaoin, a bloody start for the 2010 elections. Among the hapless victims were UPLM treasurer Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela and UPLM member Cynthia Oquendo.

Authorities claimed the victims were reportedly abducted by some 100 armed. They were accompanying the wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Ishmael “Toto” Mangudadatu , Genalyn, whose group was on their way to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor at the Commission on Elections office in Shariff Aguak town, Maguindanao.

This barbaric mass murder not only indicates the early onset of pre-election violence, but, also shows that the culture of impunity clearly pervades with the existence of warlord-maintained private armies that have long been tolerated by the government, past and present. Considering their proximity to the present occupants of Malacañang, these warlords, as well as their henchmen, certainly believe that they can get away with cold-blooded mass murder.

It is doubly condemnable that among the latest victims were journalists and lawyers, who have been in the line of fire because of their commitment to their respective profession. Sadly, the names of Atty. Brizuela and Atty. Oquendo will be added to the long list of victims of extra-judicial killings under the present adminisatration.
The UPLM demands that justice be served on the victims, particularly to our colleauges, Attys. Brizuela and Oquendo. We demand that the Arroyo administration throws the full force of the government to bring the perpetrators, regardless of their affiliations, to the bar of justice.

Atty. Carlos Isagani Zarate
Secretary General
UPLM

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 Women rights groups decry Maguindanao massacre

By Jeffrey M. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:34:00 11/25/2009

DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Women from various walks of life expressed their outrage over the gruesome death that befell their fellow women in what is now called by authorities as the Maguindanao Massacre.

And the death of at least 21 women who were among the more than 50 victims is yet another mark in the international struggle to end the violence against women.

Wednesday was the commemoration of the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, an annual tribute to the Mirabal sisters who were brutally killed by Dominican Republic dictator General Trujillo on November 25, 1960.

Mags Maglana, a Mindanao development worker, said the incident showed that the women victims were “victims twice over.”

“They suffered a brutal death. And one couldn’t help but think that they were proxies in a political war led by powerful men and their clans. And yet they were courageous. They might not have had an inkling of the hell they were walking into but they must have known about the risks ... and yet they went in,” Maglana said.

Maglana said that the women killed in the massacre were no doubt victims but “they tried to do what they could to bring about change that they believed in.”

“And for that they should be honored. And we should make sure that they are done justice and that no more women will have to be sacrificed in the altars of warlordism and feudal governance,” she said.

Women rights advocates on Wednesday went to the streets of Davao to condemn the violent death of women in the massacre.

Nisa Opalla, Gabriela Women’s Party-Southern Mindanao spokesperson said: “that in times of political turmoil, dictatorship, and fascism, women are not spared of state violence, this is how desperate political elites rule.”

“The barbaric incident in Maguindanao is also an indication of the grave human rights landscape in the Philippines under the Arroyo government, where the old guns, goons and gold still rule,” she added.

Nancy, a store attendant in downtown Davao, said she was both scared and angered when she heard the news that some of the victims of the carnage, which is linked to the Ampatuan family, were even sexually abused before they were killed.

The women victims included the wife of Buluan town vice mayor and gubernatorial aspirant Esmael Mangudadatu, his sisters Eden, the mayor of the Mangudadatu town, and Farina.

Also killed were lawyers Concepcion “Connie” Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo.

Catherine Uba-Bermudez, a former Mindanao journalist who is now based in the United States, said it unnerved her to know that “these men are animals.”

“Kill, if you must, if this was commissioned by the quasi-god (in the form of Ampatuan) but rape? This is lowlier and downright barbaric than any form of jihad, fundamentalism, or ideology,” said Bermudez in her message sent to the INQUIRER.

“It just speaks how these people are animals ... I am disgusted by how invaluable these people look at humans, as if hearing them say “sige, katayin mo sila” (go ahead and slaughter them) to my face, like referring to bugs or rodents, needing extermination. Obviously, they don’t value lives. They make me throw up,” Bermudez added.

Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza said that the incident showed that women are the most “vulnerable in the mad scramble for power during elections.”

The Mindanao Commission on Women and Mothers for Peace also expressed its outrage over what it called “new low in bestiality perpetrated by men on civilians but most especially on women.”

“This latest incident by men, who are believed to belong to a private army, makes us shudder at what will happen in the days ahead if these criminals and their principals are not brought to justice,” the group said.

Eden Mangudadatu, they said, even actively participated in the many activities of the Mindanao Commission on Women. It is, they said, ironic that early this year Eden participated in discussions of our project, “Women Healing Communities: Preventing and Reducing Rido (clan feuds)."

“During the session, she shared her thoughts about rido and how women played an important role in settling cases of clan violence,” they said.

“The barbaric and brutal massacre in Maguindanao shows the total breakdown of security in parts of Mindanao where many women and their families live in dehumanizing poverty and violent conflict,” the group said.

“We call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—as President and as a woman—to do the right thing: disband and disarm the private armies, bring down the full force of the law on the perpetrators, and rid Maguindanao and other parts of Mindanao of the scourge of warlordism,” the group added.

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